CHENNAI: A 2018 case of abduction of a three-year-old boy by two women that was “solved” in less than 24 hours by Chennai police fell flat before a city court last week after the victim’s mother turned hostile during the trial.
The police case was that N Kuttiamma (38) and her daughter T Iswarya (20) had taken away the child from a play school in Pulianthope by posing before his teacher as caretakers and were planning to sell him for `50,000 to R Jothi (50).
The first two accused were arrested by Pulianthope police within a day using CCTV footage from a house behind the school. The case had made headlines, and the then city police commissioner AK Viswanathan had even appreciated the investigating officer in person. He had also applauded the resident for installing the CCTV that had helped crack the case.
The prosecution had later filed serious charges of abduction and trafficking against the accused.
However, during trial, the child’s mother and complainant Durgadevi turned hostile and so did six other prosecution witnesses. In fact, Durgadevi’s deposition was to the extent that she had given permission to the school teacher over a phone call to allow her son to be picked up by the accused on the day. The accused knew the complainant’s family, as they had worked as labourers to help them build their house.
In her September 27 judgment, sessions judge J Sreedevi pointed out that this amounted to the parent giving consent to teacher to allow the child to be taken away by the accused and hence could not be termed kidnapping. Since the kidnapping itself could not be proved, abduction for the purpose of trafficking the child and abetment of the crime by Jothi would not arise, the judge said.
During trial, the judge also found the investigating officer had lost the CD containing the CCTV footage showing the women leaving with the child, which was another important reason for the acquittal.
“This is solely because of the lethargy and irresponsible attitude and insipidness of the investigating officer who collected electronic evidence, but lost it, which results in acquittal of the accused,” the judge said.
However, she declined to pass strictures against the policeman, as the complainant herself turning hostile was another important reason for the acquittal of the accused.